Lyudmila Yevdokimova and her 5-year-old daughter Kseniya of Commerce City walk through the trees in the children’s area at an Anythink Library at 5877 E. 120th Ave. in Thornton, one of the Rangeview Library District’s reimagined facilities. Anythink Wright Farms more closely resembles a bookstore, and the district has started to focus more on customer service. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

It was intriguing to read a Denver Post story Tuesday about the ways in which traditional Colorado libraries are reinventing themselves for the digital age.

More power to them.

As people increasingly look to electronic devices for their information needs, libraries must adapt to remain relevant. We in the news business know a little bit about that.

We applaud the thinking at places such as Rangeview library system, and hope that others will engage in similarly creative ways of repositioning themselves.

Libraries of the future have to be about more than sharing digitized versions of books or providing computer access for those who don’t have it.

Those are important missions, to be sure, but if libraries are to remain centers of the communities in which they are located, they should be places of learning, creativity and community engagement.

The days of the “book museum” are long gone.

Public funding is an important question for libraries, and if they cannot persuade voters they are a vital piece of the future, they may wither.

In Aurora, four libraries have closed due to a tight city budget, though one of them was reopened. To be sure, Aurora is in something of a unique situation, having struggled for years with a police staffing mandate that consumed an increasing portion of the city’s budget.

As Aurora scores economic development wins — a big new solar panel plant and a planned $824 million hotel project — we hope an emphasis will come to be placed on reinvigorating its library system. That has to include a digital future.

As it stands, there is no shortage of demand for library services, according to a Post story by reporter Kevin Simpson.

“We don’t have enough hours and don’t have enough places to meet the needs of the people,” library director Patti Bateman told The Post.

Denver hasn’t gone as far as Aurora, but it has noticeably reduced library hours as part of budget-balancing.

In the coming weeks, the financial future of Denver’s public library system could become a topic for discussion as a panel makes its recommendations for shoring up the city’s long-term financial health.

There has been talk about a separate taxing district for the library system, an idea we have concerns with. There also has been mention of a tax increase that would be intended for libraries.

We would like to see emphasis placed on a wide-ranging public discussion of the Denver library’s mission going forward and its plans for remaining relevant. That would give taxpayers a better sense of what they would get for their money.

Libraries will look very different in the digital age, and they must. We hope they continue to evolve in ways that will ensure they are an integral part of the intellectual lives of the people they serve.